Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-02
CHAPTER VL-BEAUMoNT STREET,
MARNLEBONE.

called the Marylebone High street, just
after you pass the old Parish church, and
before you come to the stately new church
of St. Marylebone, you will come upon
small row of little houses running east
ward A street called Beaumont street
begins here, but long before there was any
Beaumont street these houses were erect
ed. They are two stored houses, aud
painted drab, and always look as If they had
been "done up" last summer, and their
Shutters-they still have shntters-are
green. If you keep one eye upon the old
Parish church, and another upon these
houses, they are quite in place aud harmo-
nize perfectly Ifyou think of the great
new church, and of the opposite houses,
they are homogeneous. The little old Par
IA church is just exactly now as it was
when Hogarth painted the service in 1t,
save that they have cruelty removed the
old three decker-indeed, | know not
where to look for the threedecker now,
nearer than Whtby There used to be
one at Lyme Regis, but hear that it has
been removed. If you go to this church
on a Sunday morning, and shut your eyes
10 the congregation, which, somehow,
seems to consist chiefly of gentlemen's
gentlemen, and of ladies ladies, you may
fancy yourself back in the days of wigs
and commodes, of purple satin coats and
hoops. Moreover, If You contemplate this
little row of houses steadily, you are pres
emily enabled to remove all the houses
and streets opposite to them, and to re-
storein their placethe dear old Marylebone
Gardens, beloved OF Pepys, frequented by
Captain McHeath, by the registering blades
of London Town,.by the sparks from the
Temple and Gray's Inn, by grave citizens
who brought their wives and dang
for an evening of Innocent amusement,
and by riotOuS young nobleman who
came with Cynthia and Chloe. At the
back of the church was the workhOuse,
whittier, in due course Cynthia aud Chloe
retreated, "A good deal hat telel in the JOY
Gus Life aud south of the workhouse lay
the great burying ground, oldest of the
London cemeteries, which is now gar
den. Cynthia and Chloe both lie buried
here without any tombstones. On the
tales that these houses uld tell-the
nights they remember, when the horns
resounded in the gardens, and when the
men sang at their suppers, and Kitty,
and Jenny, and Polly pranced around
with their gallants, and the highwAymen
staggered within, and the footpad lurked
without, and the gamester and the pluck
pigeon prOWled about in search of their
prey. But their historictteS would be
more amusing than edifying.
The gardens are long since shut up and
built over, like Cupld's Gardens, and
Ranelagh, and NauXhall, and Cremorne,
for there is t. be no more innocent happi-
ness allowed to anybody, on account OF the
serpent VINO gets into the gardens and
tempts the young folks with that apple
Streets cover up these gardens, as they
cover up the great Queen Anne Square
which lay beyond the turnpike at the
end OF High street is gone, and there is
not a single remnant of fashion left from
end to end. Yet if Il man wanted n quiet
corner, unfrequented ana unknown, there
is no more likely spot for him in all Lon
don, than this little bit of Beaumont
street. Maryleoone High street.
One afternoon there walked slowly
across the churchyard from the EustOn-
road to the High street, young gentle
man dressed in a most beautiful and eX-
pensive fur lined coat. His hat was new
and glossy; his gloves and boots were
good, and he carried a new and very slim
umbrella young gentleman clearly of
fashion and fortune, if outward seeming
be worsh anything.
The Old woman opened the door for him
in one of the little old houses, let him in
room on the ground floor without being
announced. Clearly, therefore, ami dc
f0mule, or perhaps son of the family
There vas sitting by the fire in low
chair his feet upon "A cushion, man well
stricken in years. He was asleep when
The door opened, but awoke with start
and sat upright, clutchng the arms of the
chair Paul % he cried. II thought
YOU would come to-day. l felt you com
ing"
He was certainly enjoying a green old
age; his shoulders We're rounded, his
beard and his abundant hair were both
long and white and venerable: his limbs
were thin and looked as if they would
trembie under BIN if he stood upright
but his eyes were strong and clear; there
was no senility in those eyes and his face,
once awake, was full of life, and interest
in life. Some of us, the happiest among
us, die upwards, slowly: Others. more un.
happy, die downwards from the top to the
trunk. This old man was dying upwards.
"Paul. it is month since Won left ms
How have you Jared Sit down, You have
much to tell. Sit down and begin"
There was something i'm his voice and
way of speaking which resembled the
manner of the younger man; a winning
smile: soft voice: n gentle tone a SYM
pathetic and earnest look in the ewes.
had the Younger m au caught his manner
from the solder and improved it after can.